They call it the Spring Fever 5km. I revert to the original name of Stafford Hospital 5km, which starts at the hospital in Stafford Courthouse.
Mary Washington Hospital Foundation has hosted this race since 2010.
This year was the second year that we used a course that did not go onto Courthouse Road. The current course saves the foundation about $7000.
I attended the meetings with the Hospital and Stafford Sheriff Department and thought we had agreed on a good plan for parking and traffic control.
None of the roads around the hospital is level. They are either on an incline or a decline. Starting and finishing at the same point makes a fair course, even though there were 447 feet of climbing over the 3.10686 miles. We got to go down that 447 feet, too.
I’m still on recovery restriction from an ablation on March 2, 2026. I need to keep my heart rate under 70% (124 bpm). On top of that, I fell two weeks ago and bruised a few ribs and my lower left back. The worst pain I get is when I sneeze. My back is loosening, and my range of motion is improving. I have not run in the past two weeks. Walking has not been an issue. Still, the jarring from running is painful. I planned to walk and maybe run a little.
Based on my race plan and the published parking plan, I did not need to arrive before 8 am and would park in the main hospital lot. I needed to leave right after I finished to attend an 11 am conference in DC.
The published parking plan was for most people to arrive before 8:15 am and use the Hospital Pavilion lot, provided they did not need to leave before 9:30 am. There was one entrance road that was to be open until 8:15 am.
With an 8:30 am start time, I left home at 7:30 am, planning to arrive before 8 am. Traffic was light, and I made it to the hospital around 7:45 am. Upon arrival, the access point was blocked. That did not affect me as I was planning to park in the main lot near the choke point and course turnaround. However, the three hours I spent on the planning process were a waste of my time.
I roamed over to make sure the turnaround cones were correctly positioned. They were not on the dots that I had painted a week before. So, I moved them to their correct locations. I asked the clueless hospital security person who told them to close the road. The Stafford Deputy nearby asked me if I was one of the race organizers, and I responded that I was the course measurer and wanted to make sure the cones were positioned correctly. The deputy told me that hospital security told them to shut down the road. While I was there, I asked him for advice on the illegally parked cars on my street. I found out they could not write tickets, only warnings, which has not changed behavior in the last couple of years.
I went back to my car to get ready. My warm-up was to be the walk to the starting line around the front of the building. Around 7:55, I started walking that way. By that time, there was a constant stream of cars arriving. I hoped there were enough parking spots.
I arrived in time to see the 1/2-mile race start, get in the FARC group picture, and talk with an old friend who is getting open-heart surgery this week, wishing them well. I may have run a step or two, not feeling much pain. I informed the timer and the grand prix director that I had marked the people who were to receive the first piece of the medal, and I vented about the Sheriff’s deputies’ inability to read. The grand prix director told me the car across the choke point was there when she arrived at 7:15 am.
I wore shorts over compression shorts, a singlet over a long-sleeved shirt, a ball cap, and my Saucony Triumph 23 shoes. The weather at the start was sunny, with a temperature of 60 degrees, a dew point of 45 degrees, and a light wind. Before the start, I removed an overshirt and tied it around the waist. I expected to be on the course for over 50 minutes and wanted to be prepared for anything.
At the start, I positioned myself almost at the back with about 90% the field in front of me. After the gun, it took 30 seconds to cross the start line. Within the first 100 meters, I saw a latecomer jump into the race from the side and reminded him he needed to go back and cross the start line. With chip timing, no start time may mean no finish time will be recorded.
The first mile includes a loop through a vacant parking lot. With more down than up and only walking, my first mile was 16:19. I felt good enough that I thought about running a few of the downhills. However, my heart rate was close to my limit, and I decided to continue walking only.
During a race management review meeting, others were concerned about a bottleneck in the parking lot loop when runners are being lapped. I was not concerned at the point we were looking at, as it was at the 0.5- and 2.3-mile locations. However, I was wrong: the lapping occurred in the parking lot at mile locations 0.6 and 2.4. The lead runner lapped me before I finished my first mile.
A little after the one-mile mark, the course turns onto Care Lane and uphill to the hospital’s main parking lot. The .4-mile hill only rises 51 feet. I reached the top without hitting my heart rate limit or slowing down. The turnaround is 2.501 km into the course, and I reached it in 25:28.
After turning, we came back down those 51 feet, and my second mile was 15:38. I had survived the middle of the course.
The third mile was a second loop through the vacant parking lot and a spur out to Courthouse Road. Then, there is a relaxing downhill until the final .2 miles. My third mile was a 16:00.
The last 0.2 miles are uphill, with an average gradient of 4.1%, peaking at 5.1% for the last tenth of a mile—my time over that last tenth of 101 seconds.
My finish time was 49:42. I kept my heart rate under my 70% restriction.
I placed 242nd overall, 97th among males, and 6th in the Male 65- to 69-year-old age group.
Post-race, I walked back to my car, thanked the deputy at the turnaround, changed clothes, and headed to DC.
My Grand Prix finish streak is now at 74 races. By 2028, it will be in triple digits, and in 2035, I’ll catch Nancy Cooper’s record. On-on.
Up next is the Marine Corps Historic Half-Marathon in the middle of May. By then, my limit will be raised to 80% (133 bpm) of my maximum heart rate. That race has a 4-hour time limit. If I can maintain today’s pace for 13 miles, I’ll make the cutoff. I’d better start doing longer runs and walks.